Wilco rose from the ashes of alt-country band, Uncle Tupelo, who disbanded in 1994. Jay Farrar, one of Uncle Tupelo's two main songwriters, went on to form Son Volt, while his ex-partner, Jeff Tweedy, formed Wilco with former Uncle Tupelo drummer, Ken Coomer, bassist, John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist, Max Johnston. Tweedy also enlisted the help of Uncle Tupelo guest guitarist, Brian Henneman, who performed on Wilco's debut album, A.M..
The band are named after the military radio acronym, "WILCO," meaning "will comply." Frontman Jeff Tweedy admitted the name is "fairly ironic for a rock band."
Wilco teamed up with British songwriter come political activist, Billy Bragg, for the 1998 Mermaid Avenue album, which put lyrics from Woody Guthire's archives of unrecorded songs to music composed and performed by Wilco and Bragg. In 2000, both artists released a second volume titled Mermaid Avenue Vol. II.
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